


kodiak moments

by ACatWhoWrites



Series: A Prompt a Day in the Month of May [29]
Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Age Changes, Alternate Universe - Animals, Alternate Universe - Bears, Alternate Universe - Children, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen, Microfic, Short One Shot, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 13:02:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14811891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ACatWhoWrites/pseuds/ACatWhoWrites
Summary: Sehun and Kai stop for the night and sleep in a tree.





	kodiak moments

Sehun yawns and leans forward to let his arms and legs dangle on either side of Kai's back. The bear grunts, looking at him over his shoulder, and Sehun idly drums his side with his hands. "I'm fine. It's just boring." The sun is almost set. He sits up again with a sigh. "We should find someplace to sleep for the night. Not a cave, though." He's afraid of bats and doesn't like the smell. Nothing ever seems to bother Kai, which is all fine, well, and good, but Sehun has to sit with the smell of bat poop smeared in the bear's hair.

Kai sniffs the air and follows his nose to a very big, old elm tree. Sehun carefully stands on Kai's shoulders and pulls himself up onto a branch. Kai digs his claws into the bark and lumbers up the trunk, higher than Sehun and apparently with single-minded purpose.

Then Sehun hears the buzzing and rolls his eyes. Leave it to Kai to think with his stomach.

“Drop any on me, and I will shave you bald.”

The bear grunts, already swatting at the angry bees that swarm around his muzzle. He has eaten a couple of angry bees before, but that never seems to deter him from going for a nest whenever available, and Sehun always treats his swollen stings with cool cloths and mud or—ironically—honey.

Sehun pulls his hood over his head and settles as comfortably as he can with his back against the main trunk of the tree and his backpack as a pillow. A couple branches reach out from the one he sits on, cradling his shoulders, so he should be pretty safe from rolling off. 

An ant crawls over his hand, ignoring him when it doesn't sense anything sweet. Something scurries down the opposite side of the trunk, but as long as it doesn't climb over to Sehun, he's fine.

The sky is more purple than red, cooling the land with soothing moonlight. They'll have to get up first thing in the morning, if they want to catch up to the other kids. Kai can run pretty fast, even compared to a wolf, but he can't keep it up for very long, and it always works up his appetite even more than when he's just walking or lying down.

He's a very hungry bear. Most of their breaks are snack breaks, if not nap breaks. Sehun's given up trying to convince him to keep moving. When a bear parks itself, he's learned, it'll stay parked until it's good and ready to move, so Sehun just accepts it.

There's no real rush, anyway. They have a week to make it to the next town, and it's only been a couple days. If Sehun's map reading is accurate, which is part of what this excursion is testing, then they're almost halfway there. No problem.

Above him, Kai scoffs at some more bees and finally gives up on the honey. His mouth is sticky, pieces of honeycomb hanging from his nose and muzzle. He rubs it against the tree bark as he climbs down. Thankfully, the bees leave him alone, so when he reaches a branch closer to Sehun, there's no tell-tale buzzing.

Sehun has fallen from a tree one too many times due to enraged bees to forgive the hungry bear again.

Kai digs into a hollow in the trunk, enlarging it, and breaks some branches and twigs to make a sort of nest. Leaves and bits of bark shower down onto Sehun, who pitches a twig right back at the bear. Kai jumps in fear and snorts, moaning a little.

“You deserve it!” Sehun carefully stands and digs the toe of his sneaker into the trunk, reaching as high as he can to climb towards his friend. “You know I'm down here; you dropped that stuff on purpose!”

Kai, doing his best to be helpful, leans over and catches Sehun's hoodie, hauling him up easily. It's a weird feeling; the first time he did it, Sehun was nearly hanged and had spent a long while calming down an agitated and sorry bear cub. Now, years later, it's more habit. Sehun's more comfortable sleeping at Kai's side, if not sprawled out over his chest or back. It's probably the same with the other kids, he thinks, sleeping with their wolves. 

Sometimes, when it's late at night or they're stopping for an afternoon nap, Sehun wonders what it would be like to have a wolf, although he has a sneaky suspicion that even if Kai was a wolf he'd be just as food-motivated and lazy. It's just how he is, and that suits Sehun fine. Neither of them are particularly outgoing or driven.

Sehun shifts onto his side and grabs a loose fistful of the bear's soft white chest fur, burrowing into his side. He could really use a bath; he smells like Bear.

Kai scratches his muzzle, licks the sweet honey from his claws, and tucks his foreleg around the boy.

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to try a prompt a day in May, not following any list. This came from **adventure**.


End file.
